1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a business management techniques, which apply a triangulation principle that combines the issues of management, operation and technology to achieve an optimum improvement in the way a portion of a business operation is managed and operated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various different business management techniques have been utilized in the prior art. The following six patents and published patent applications are the closest prior art references which are related to the present invention.
1. United States Published Patent Application No. 2002/0128888 to Watsaka Chuangsuvanish on Sep. 12, 2002 for “Reflexzplan” (hereafter the “Chuangsuvanish Published Patent Application”);
2. United States Published Patent Application No. 2003/0033192 to Sergio Zyman et al. on Feb. 13, 2003 for “Strategic Marketing Planning Processes, Marketing Effectiveness Tools And Systems, And Marketing Investment Management” (hereafter the “Zyman Published Patent Application”);
3. United States Published Patent Application No. 2003/0083915 to Diego Gucciardi et al. on May 1, 2003 for “Process Development Process Methodology” (hereafter the “Gucciardi Published Patent Application”);
4. United States Published Patent Application No. 2005/0096950 to Scott Malcom Caplan et al. on May 5, 2005 for “Method And Apparatus For Creating And Evaluating Strategies” (hereafter the “Caplan Published Patent Application”);
5. U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,809 issued to Michael P. Miller et al. and assigned to Accenture Global Services GmbH on Apr. 25, 2006 for “Accelerated Process Improvement Framework” (hereafter the “Miller Patent”); and
6. U.S. Pat. No. 7,251,613 issued to David R. Flores et al. on Jul. 31, 2007 for “System And Method For Generating A Multi-Layered Strategy Description Including Integrated Implementation Requirements” (hereafter the “Flores Patent”).
The Chuangsuvanish Published Patent Application discloses a dynamic software which is comprised of a dynamic financial accounting spreadsheet. The software is developed based on business concepts of generating a prototype workflow of a business process, evaluating the prototype workflow of the process, generating a Process Development Process (PDP) workflow and populating a PDP toolkit using a result of the evaluation of the prototype workflow.
The Zyman Published Patent Application discloses planning tools for guiding marketing professionals. The tools include steps of performing a situation assessment, identifying opportunities, developing growth strategies, developing growth tactics, and developing ways to measure the results of the steps.
The Gucciardi Published Patent Application discloses a method for developing a process comprising the steps of generating a prototype workflow of the process, evaluating the prototype workflow of the process, and generating a Process Development Process (PDP) workflow and populating a PDP toolkit using a result of the evaluation of the prototype workflow.
The Caplan Published Patent Application discloses a method and an apparatus for strategy science methodology involving computer implementation. Some structural elements of the preferred embodiments of the Application include Strategy Situation Analysis, Decision Key and Intermediate Variable Creation, Data Exploration, Decision Model Structuring and Decision Model Quantification.
The Miller Patent discloses a computerized process for accelerating improvement to a more mature software product including the step of maintaining a Software Engineering Process Group (SEPG). The patented invention is a method and related system for assisting and expediting an organization's transformation toward higher levels of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) or higher derivative maturity models. In particular, the invention provides a method for producing a more mature product. A preferred embodiment of the method comprises the management of an organization developing the product whereby the organizational management comprises managing personnel of the organization and implementing a product improvement process.
The Flores Patent discloses an enterprise strategy management system including three software modules. The first software module formulates a strategy description based on an assessment of environmental data. The second module aligns the strategy description with available enterprise resources and deploys strategy implementation responsibility. The third module measures the execution of the strategy and identifies opportunities to optimize strategic performance.
There is a significant need to provide a method which is based on a triangulation principle to combine the fields of management, operation and technology including the information technology for deriving an optimum business process to thereby achieve results of reduced costs, increased efficiency and improved effectiveness in operating a business.